Daviess County Emergency Management Agency says lightning strikes, like what hit Daviess County’s Fire Department’s east station Wednesday, are more common at this time of year.
“It is critical for folks to check weather updates hourly, especially late morning through early evening, as heat rises and produces storm cells out of nowhere,” said DCEMA Director Andy Ball.
There are an average of 47 lightning fatalities each year in the U.S. while hundreds more are injured.
“According to the National Weather Service, we’ve had six confirmed fatalities so far in 2019, with five of them in June,” he said or lighting-related accidents. “One of the six was in Kentucky.”
Jamie Elder, 41 from Missouri, was struck by lightning on June 23 while on campus at Murray State University. She was later pronounced dead at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn.
While no fatalities have happened locally from lightning strikes, Ball said the area has seen damage.
Earlier this year lightning struck a tornado siren struck in Utica, which has since been fixed.
DCEMA has also requested NWS out of Paducah office to provide lightning overwatch for the O.Z. Tyler Distillery rickhouse clean up.
“They call me anytime lightning is within 10 miles,” he said. “We have had to shut down their clean up operations a couple times now due to lightning.”
Typical July heat and humidity will lead to scattered afternoon thunderstorms through Friday, Ball said. Although a few showers and storms may linger into Thursday evening, most of the region should be dry in time for fireworks displays, he said, adding that everyone should still check hourly weather updates.
“Bottom line — when thunder roars, go indoors,” Ball said.
